Drop Afghan pullout deadline, Barack Obama told

BARACK Obama is being urged to drop his deadline of July next year to start US troop withdrawals from Afghanistan Fears are rising that the deadline has emboldened the Taliban.
The US President's deadline was yesterday branded unrealistic and the cause of uncertainty about the White House's long-term commitment to the Afghan war.

Critics said it sent the wrong message to the Taliban, that they only had to wait for the US-led forces to leave the country. Afghanistan's ambassador to Washington, Said Jawad, was blunt in declaring the date to start withdrawing troops was unhelpful.
"If you over-emphasise a deadline that is not realistic, you are making the enemy a lot more bold," Mr Jawad said. "You are prolonging the war. That deadline should be realistic. The line should be based on the reality on the ground, and we should give a clear message to the enemy, to the terrorists who are a threat to everyone, that the US, NATO, Afghans, are there to finish this job."
Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain cast aspersion on a "firm date" for the US pullout.
He said Mr Obama's message about withdrawal while at the same time committing not to "turn out the lights in the middle of 2011" was indecipherable.
It made a long-term US commitment appear uncertain. "I'm all for dates for withdrawal, but that's after the strategy succeeds, not before," Senator McCain said.
Mr Obama faces growing pressure over his decision in December to declare -- in the same speech he announced plans to send an additional 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan -- that the troop withdrawal would start in the middle of next year.
With 93,000 US troops and 43,000 NATO forces in Afghanistan, including 1500 Australians, new allied commander General David Petraeus insists: "We are in this to win."
But progress in the eight-year war is not as fast as the Obama administration would like. The Taliban is entrenched in key parts of Kandahar, and a military surge in the town of Marja this year delivered mixed results. But Mr Obama is sticking with the deadline to begin a US withdrawal, which he is believed to have added to his December troops announcement to appease opponents of the war in his Democratic Party.
The remarks by Mr Jawad, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's top envoy to Washington, indicate nervousness in Kabul about the US strategy and the message it send to Mr Karzai's enemies.
Prominent Republican Lindsey Graham sounded a warning about the White House strategy. "If you send a signal to your enemy you're going to leave at a certain date, they'll wait you out," he said.
But not all the criticism went against Mr Obama yesterday, as Republican national committee chairman Michael Steele faced pressure to resign after claiming the US could not win the Afghan conflict, which he called a war "of Obama's choosing".
The remarks, made by the Republicans' titular head at a fundraiser, prompted outrage in his own party.
Senator McCain said Mr Steele would have to assess whether he could still lead the Republican Party, which supports the Afghan conflict as a war against terrorism over the attacks on the US of September 11, 2001. "Those statements are wildly inaccurate, and there's no excuse for them," Senator McCain said.
Republican Tom Cole said Mr Steele's gaffe, the latest in a long line to have embarrassed his party, would justify his resignation. Mr Steele has not spoken publicly since his comments, but issued a clarifying statement yesterday: "There is no question that America must win the war on terror."
Source:theaustralian
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Afghanistan strategy right: Brown

Gordon Brown insists that he has "absolutely no doubt" that Britain is pursuing the right strategy in Afghanistan.

In an interview with the British Forces Broadcasting Service, the Prime Minister acknowledged it had been a difficult year for British troops fighting the Taliban.

But he insisted that UK forces needed to be in the country to prevent the return of terrorism to the streets of Britain.

"I have got absolutely no doubt that we are taking the right decisions for our country," he said.

"The very presence of our forces in Afghanistan, taking on the Taliban and preventing the return of al Qaida, has a direct link to the safety and security of people in our streets and in our neighbourhoods in Britain today.

"Every time I think we have taken the right decision about what our objectives have got to be. We have got to protect the safety of British citizens."

Mr Brown rejected the idea that security could be achieved by withdrawing the troops and pursuing a "Fortress Britain" strategy.

He said that the UK and its allies remained committed to building up the Afghan forces so they could take over responsibility for security, allowing the international forces to return home.

"If you are trying to deal with a terrorist threat that operates from Pakistan and has links to Afghanistan, you have got to deal with it where the epicentre of global terrorism is. So I think we have made the right decisions all along on this," he said.

"We have been in Afghanistan longer than the Second World War, longer than the First World War, so this is a difficult enterprise, it has taken a long time, but we have a strategy."

Source:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gEYKmx8SYROpXW3RE4Tv7iCNZLGA